Dover One of Kyle Busch's Only Recent Bright Spots

Although Kyle Busch has been substantially worse at most tracks since he switched from Joe Gibbs Racing to Richard Childress Racing, Dover Motor Speedway is one of the main exceptions. For how much he has lacked speed elsewhere, Busch actually won poles here in each of his last two starts and he's led a combined […]

John Hunter Nemechek Not a Great Option at Dover

John Hunter Nemechek has slight value for Sunday's race at Dover because he starts poorly (28th), he has gained positions in all three of his previous starts here, and he's been reliably consistent in finishing either 20th or 24th in all three of his starts in '20 and '24. After a long litany of crashes […]

Michael McDowell Starting Too Well for Dover DFS Consideration

Michael McDowell is one of the absolute worst options for DFS consideration on Sunday as he starts seventh at Dover, a track where he has never finished better than 17th. This means he is almost certain to lose positions and score extremely few DFS points as a result. His previous best starting position of eighth […]

Austin Cindric Fading Since Father Tim's Ouster from Team Penske

Ever since Roger Penske fired Tim Cindric as Team Penske President in the wake of their Indy 500 qualifying cheating scandal, Tim's son Austin has steadily faded to his typical mediocrity. That could just be a coincidence as plenty of other teams seem to be giving up on the regular season races once they win […]

Erik Jones' Low-Level Dover Consistency Makes Him Moderately Valuable

Erik Jones' chances of getting into the playoffs are likely over after two typically subpar road-course runs back-to-back, but now as NASCAR returns to the ovals, Jones might get back into the groove as he had six straight finishes of 17th or better on ovals before the road-course swing. Although he typically does better on […]

Zane Smith's Poor Starting Position Makes Him an OK DFS Option

Zane Smith starts 30th for Sunday's race at Dover, smack dab in between his Front Row Motorsports teammates Todd Gilliland and Noah Gragson, who start 24th and 36th, respectively. It's unclear what effect NASCAR's revocation of FRM's charter will have on the team's performance, especially after their appeal was denied. However, it's pretty rare for […]

Todd Gilliland Likely to Finish Worse Than He Starts at Dover

Todd Gilliland has his best-ever starting performance at Dover, where he starts 24th after qualifying was rained out, even though he is currently lower in points than he finished any previous season. When considering both that fact and the fact that he has never finished better than 25th here, he is very likely to lose […]

Cody Ware Has Never Finished Better Than 13 Laps Down at Dover

Even by his very low standards, Cody Ware has not been terrible at Dover Motor Speedway. In five starts, he has an average finish of 34th. He crashed out in both 2018 and 2021 and has never finished better than 13 laps down here. In general, drivers for the slowest teams should be avoided at […]

Tyler Reddick Evades Near Upset to Remain Alive in In-Season Challenge

It looked for most of Sunday's race at Sonoma that Ryan Preece was actually going to upset In-Season Tournament favorite Tyler Reddick to advance to the semifinal against Ty Gibbs, which was very shocking as Preece spent much of Stage 3 inside the top 10, while Reddick was outside of it, even though he is […]

Ty Gibbs One of Three Tylers to Make In-Season Challenge Semifinals

In an odd coincidence, all three NASCAR Cup Series drivers named Tyler advanced to the final four of NASCAR's In-Season Challenge tournament bracket. While Tyler Reddick is not really a surprise, both Ty Dillon and Ty Gibbs definitely were as Dillon isn't a good driver and Gibbs isn't very good yet. Nonetheless, Gibbs benefited mightily […]

Kyle Larson Curiously Mediocre at Sonoma Before Late-Race Crash

Kyle Larson had a curiously mediocre run at Sonoma, a track where he had earned impressive wins twice before in 2021 and 2024 as well as four consecutive poles from 2017-2022. Larson wasn't remotely in contention, spending most of the race between 11th and 20th while his teammates William Byron and Chase Elliott were fast […]

John H. Nemechek Edges Out Teammate to Make In-Season Challenge Semifinal

As usual for the Legacy Motor Club drivers on road courses, neither John Hunter Nemechek nor Erik Jones ran very well at Sonoma on Sunday. But also as usual, Nemechek had more road-course speed than Jones, who was at times battling the slowest cars like Katherine Legge's. That allowed Nemechek to beat Jones to advance […]

Ty Dillon Bumps Alex Bowman to Advance to In-Season Challenge Semifinal

Improbably, Ty Dillon advanced to the semifinal of NASCAR's In-Season Challenge after bumping his opponent Alex Bowman out of the way despite Bowman outrunning Dillon for nearly the entire race. Although his 17th-place finishing position was the best of his career at Sonoma, he still didn't actually run very well as his average running position […]

A.J. Allmendinger Probably More Valuable for DFS If He Doesn't Flip the Stage

With two road courses and Daytona left in the seven races before the NASCAR playoffs begin, A.J. Allmendinger has not been totally eliminated from playoff contention as he is only 43 points behind Bubba Wallace for the final playoff transfer spot and he is much better on road courses than the two drivers he is […]

William Byron Hopes to Rebound at Sonoma After Back-to-Back DNFs

After having not won a race since his second straight fluky Daytona 500 win and back-to-back DNFs in the last two races which nearly cost him the points lead, William Byron is going to be a little undervalued for DFS play at Sunday's Sonoma race, particularly since he is starting third and is likely to […]

Chase Briscoe Qualifies Second but Remains Hard to Forecast

The hardest Cup Series driver to evaluate, Chase Briscoe, has had an odd season-long trend of qualifying and finishing well but running worse than it appears on the surface. That can't be sustainable forever, and indeed Briscoe had an atypical race at Chicago where he might have had his best run of the season before […]

Daniel Suarez's Sonoma Win Seems Like an Outlier in Retrospect

After winning his first race at Sonoma three years ago, Daniel Suárez returns to the site of his triumph as a lame-duck driver as he has been released from Trackhouse Racing to presumably make room for Saturday's winner Connor Zilisch, who has not yet been formally announced. Although Suárez was a quite consistent qualifier here […]

Kyle Busch Should Contend at Sonoma

Although Kyle Busch no longer seems to have the oval speed he once did, he remains a strong contender on road courses and seemingly nowhere else of late. At Austin, he led the most laps and earned 42 of his 62 laps led this season and finished fifth. At Chicago last week, he recovered from […]

Alex Bowman Looks to Advance in In-Season Tournament

After coming out on top in his latest iteration of his feud with Bubba Wallace last week at Chicago, Alex Bowman advanced to Round 3 of the NASCAR In-Season Challenge, where he should be easily favored to advance since he has earned top-10 finishes in all three of his road/street-course starts this year while Dillon […]

Denny Hamlin Probably Undervalued at Sonoma Due to Recent Unlucky Finishes

Although Denny Hamlin doesn't have as strong a record at Sonoma as he does at many other tracks, he is probably going to be a little undervalued for DFS play because he has finished 31st, 36th, and 38th in his three races with the Next Gen car. However, that record is somewhat misleading with regard […]

Brad Keselowski's Head Likely Isn't in the Game This Week

Brad Keselowski got himself in some hot water when he publicly lambasted NASCAR for suddenly embracing more road course races in the Jim France era, which helped precipitate a decline for a champion who was typically mediocre on road courses apart from a few years at Watkins Glen. At Sonoma, Keselowski tended to be much […]

Richard Childress Racing's Road-Course Speed May Help Austin Dillon at Sonoma

Although Austin Dillon crashed last week in Chicago, he's well worth considering for DFS play this week at Sonoma, mainly because the Richard Childress Racing cars have been faster on road courses than they have on any other track type lately. Not only did Kyle Busch lead the most laps at Austin, he also recovered […]

Noah Gragson Looks Hopeless at Sonoma

Although Noah Gragson earned his first top-10 finish on a road course earlier this year at Austin, that is starting to look more and more like a fluke, as he is tending to run consistently mediocre everywhere. Case in point: His 32nd-place qualifying run at Sonoma on Saturday was far slower than his Front Row […]

Justin Haley Hopes to Repeat Corey LaJoie's Strong Sonoma Run From Last Year

Justin Haley's season has been somewhat disastrous thus far, but if he has any hope of turning around, it could happen at Sonoma. Last year, Corey LaJoie had one of his best runs of the year in the No. 7 car at Sonoma, where he finished 11th and had an average running position of 15th. […]

Ty Dillon Likely to Be Eliminated From In-Season Challenge

After backing into the Round of 16 in the NASCAR In-Season Challenge because he finished both of the first two races while his heavily-favored opponents Denny Hamlin and Brad Keselowski both crashed, Ty Dillon's run will likely end on Sunday now that he is facing Alex Bowman, a driver who has earned top-10 finishes in […]

Ty Gibbs Finishes Second at Chicago and Advances in In-Season Challenge

Ty Gibbs had one of his better races of his career at the Chicago Street Course yesterday. After starting ninth, he remained in the top ten for the entire race with the exception of his pit stops late in Stage 1 and Stage 2 to flip both of those stages. He caught a significant break […]

Alex Bowman Defeats Bubba Wallace in In-Season Challenge, but Not Without Controversy

Alex Bowman started 11th and finished 8th at Chicago yesterday, but his race was no mere Sunday drive as his feud with Bubba Wallace dating back to the 2019 Charlotte roval. As Bowman was driving up through the field on fresher tires, he attempted to follow Wallace's teammate Tyler Reddick around Wallace but the pair […]

Bubba Wallace Wrecked by Alex Bowman Again, Putting Playoffs in Doubt

Bubba Wallace's summer of futility continues with another crash in a race where he was fast. Despite being relegated to a 37th-place starting position after a botched qualifying lap, he had driven up to 16th when he was spun by Kyle Larson at the start of Stage 2. However, good strategy and a decision not […]

Throttle Failure Ends Michael McDowell's Chances to Win at Chicago

After qualifying second at Chicago, Michael McDowell unexpectedly took the lead from eventually Shane van Gisbergen on the opening lap and led the entire first stage. He declined to pit during the first stage break in an attempt to make the race distance on only one pit stop. However, he was forced to go behind […]

Austin Hill Earns First NASCAR Cup Series Top Ten at Chicago

Austin Hill earned his first top ten in the NASCAR Cup Series in yesterday's race at the Chicago Street Course. Although Richard Childress Racing has lacked speed most of this season, they have been very fast on road or street courses as Kyle Busch has earned both of his top fives this season on that […]